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The GBA is expanding its presence in north Georgia. In the coming months, contests are scheduled for Acworth, Gainesville, Blairsville and soon to be announced Newnan. This is a great chance for north GA brethren to experience the GBA.

Olewarthog's Top 10 List of why you should give GBA a try:

10. Entry fees are in line with KCBS fees, generally $225-$250
9. 100% trained judges.
8. No garnish. Turn in boxes are meat only
7. No chicken prep.
6. High level of competition. GBA teams also do well in KCBS & other comps.
5. No need to buy $100 Waygu briskets. GBA is pork only
4. If you just want to cook one category? You can & still win the Grand Championship
3. $$$$. GBA purses are rising. Some contests are paying $10k +
2. Comparative judging. No obscure standards. Your entry is judged against the other entries on the table that day.

and the #1 reason is ... Have Fun & Make New Friends!!!! The competition is serious but we have fun. At both the team & judge meetings, it is emphasized that you should make at least one new friend that day.

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Hance - Lake Dogs Cooking Team - MiM/MBN/GBA CBJ and comp cook
Lake Sinclair, GA (strategically about an hour from darn near anywhere)
Started competing in chili cookoffs back in the 1990's and have competed in more than I care to count. I became a CBJ in MiM in 2005, then MBN and in GBA in 2010. I've probably judged 130+- BBQ comps (sanctioned and unsanctioned) over this time. That said, I really enjoy competing more than I enjoy judging, and hope to get back to doing 4 or 5 a year in the near future.

Any reason the Acworth event is $350 ??? and the "Just for fun" side is $250? that is not in line with other events I have done. I am looking to do a couple of GBA events this year but even though I live in woodstock and the Acworth event is close that might just have priced me out of the event.

Any reason the Acworth event is $350 ??? and the "Just for fun" side is $250? that is not in line with other events I have done. I am looking to do a couple of GBA events this year but even though I live in woodstock and the Acworth event is close that might just have priced me out of the event.

I live in Acworth, will do 12-15 contests this year, and can't get my head around justifying $350. That would be the highest priced contest of all on my calendar. And I hate to point out the obvious but if you want to do well in finals, you need to cook for them. 2 extra pork butts, twice as many ribs as for KCBS, and multiple loins will eat up any money one might have saved by avoiding a Wagyu brisket in KCBS.

That is the categories for the "just for fun". GBA does not do a backyard very often. The question is.... will a GBA judge know what to do with a piece of chicken.

The GBA is going to be rolling out a backyard type division at some contests in the near future. There will be 2 categories -- pulled pork & ribs. The entry fee will generally be in the $100-125 range for both categories. Turn in times will be the same as the GBA times & entries will be judged by GBA judges. The entries will be on tables separate from the GBA entries.

The question is.... will a GBA judge know what to do with a piece of chicken.

While it's probably rhetorical, I'll actually answer this straight up, with a very practical example.

Most GBA CBJ's have been CBJ's in other sanctioning bodies long before GBA was in existence, and some are CBJ's in multiple others, notably KCBS and MiM/MBN. I recognize some of these guys being CBJ's 10+ years ago. Many also have many more than 100 competitions judged. Also, many have cooked and competed on their own, not just with another team.

Last year, Pigs N Wings, if I recall correctly they sat 6 tables of brisket with KCBS CBJ's, except for 3 of us. Of the 3, we were all 3 CBJ's in MBN and we'd all 3 cooked/competed multiple times in KCBS cookoffs, not with a team, but as head cooks, so the 3 of us that weren't KCBS CBJ's were CBJ's in 2 (or more) sanctioning bodies, probably averaging 60 cookoffs judged each, and had competed in KCBS multiple times.

Not a bad field, for ancillary brisket, from the field of GBA CBJ's.

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Hance - Lake Dogs Cooking Team - MiM/MBN/GBA CBJ and comp cook
Lake Sinclair, GA (strategically about an hour from darn near anywhere)
Started competing in chili cookoffs back in the 1990's and have competed in more than I care to count. I became a CBJ in MiM in 2005, then MBN and in GBA in 2010. I've probably judged 130+- BBQ comps (sanctioned and unsanctioned) over this time. That said, I really enjoy competing more than I enjoy judging, and hope to get back to doing 4 or 5 a year in the near future.

I hope you did not take that the wrong way.....That is just my quirky humor. As a KCBS CBJ and head cook I understand that people cross over. I have only cooked one GBA in the past and I had such a great time last year I am going to do a couple more this year.

When I cooked the GBA event last year I asked myself.....Do I even know what to do with a loin??

I hope you did not take that the wrong way.....That is just my quirky humor. As a KCBS CBJ and head cook I understand that people cross over. I have only cooked one GBA in the past and I had such a great time last year I am going to do a couple more this year.

When I cooked the GBA event last year I asked myself.....Do I even know what to do with a loin??

LOL. I have a fairly quirky sense of humor myself. No offense taken at all.

That's why I really tried to answer it straight, because honestly it's a fairly good question.

I was surprised that there are as many of us that are also KCBS CBJ's...

Personally, my last few comps I competed in were MBN, and I loved it, but wow oh wow at the cost!!! I'm hoping to compete in GBA a few times this year, but $$$ will still play in to it. I'd love to compete in Statesboro next weekend, but right now things are TIGHT at home... Perhaps by April we can free up a few dolla's and compete vs. judge in Jackson. Tax time; who knows, I might just spend it anyway and compete, sort of a "what the heck" thing...

Loin!?! There's a topic all on its own. There's a huge difference in the loins we'd see come across the table 2 years ago to the ones we see now. However, still, the top 2 or 3 making finals usually make finals because of tenderness. It's still the toughest thing to do, IMHO. 2 years ago they were almost all like chewing leather. Not now. 1/2 of them are pretty good, but there's now almost always one at the table that hit tenderness dead on.

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Hance - Lake Dogs Cooking Team - MiM/MBN/GBA CBJ and comp cook
Lake Sinclair, GA (strategically about an hour from darn near anywhere)
Started competing in chili cookoffs back in the 1990's and have competed in more than I care to count. I became a CBJ in MiM in 2005, then MBN and in GBA in 2010. I've probably judged 130+- BBQ comps (sanctioned and unsanctioned) over this time. That said, I really enjoy competing more than I enjoy judging, and hope to get back to doing 4 or 5 a year in the near future.